Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division (CRD) is
among the world’s top 5 scientific organizations in the fields of
High Energy Astrophysics, Solar Physics, and Multivariate Statistical
Analyses. CRD's Aragats Space Environmental Center (ASEC) is the one
of the world's foremost ground based Space Weather Forecasting
research organizations. In this area of excellence Armenia joins the United States, Germany, Japan, and Russia. Following is an
introduction to the CRD and a sample of CRD’s accomplishments during the past
12 months. The support of the diaspora was crucial in allowing the CRD to
make these impressive advancements:

CRD
Infrastructure

CRD provides
uninterrupted year-round operation of its two high altitude research stations
on Mt. Aragats (Nor Ambert station at 2000m and the Aragats station near the summit at 3200 m)
despite severe winter conditions. Data gathered from several cosmic ray
monitoring systems at these stations is transferred to the CRD headquarters
in Yerevan via wireless modems. The data is analyzed and posted on the CRD
web site http://crdlx5.yerphi.am every 5 minutes for use by international
partners.

CRD
Personnel

Approximately
80 scientists, technicians, and support personnel are employed by the CRD.
The head of CRD, Prof. Ashot Chilingarian, is a visionary scientist who is
determined to conduct world class science in Armenia. Additionally he
teaches Physics at Yerevan State University. Five of his students conduct
their thesis research at CRD facilities.

International Scientific Partnerships
cover half of CRD’s needed Budget
The CRD has strong collaborations with the Institute of Nuclear Physics
Research Center in Karlsruhe, Germany; Nagoya University in Japan; Stanford
University in the USA; National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA)
and Huntsman Cancer Research Center in the USA; the European Space Agency
(ESA); and the European Committee On SPAce Research (COSPAR). Partnership with these
institutions partially funds the research at the CRD.

March 2014 - Armenia Joins the Word-wide Lightening Location Network

CRD joined the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), which is
managed by the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of
Washington in Seattle, Washington. The Armenian stations fill a crucial void
as there are no other stations for thousands of kilometers to the east or
west; the nearest station to the southwest being in Tel-Aviv.

November 2013 – Armenian scientific papers sited more times per paper than
papers from any other Country.

According to the World List of Best in Publishing and Citations, Armenia
ranks number 64th for number of published papers in 2012, with 1058 papers in
international refereed journals. USA is number one with 537,308 papers.
However, Armenia is number one in the number of times per paper on average
other authors have referenced the Armenian papers in own publications, with a ratio of 2
citations per paper. USA comes in at 22 with less than one citation per paper on
average. This is a measure of the importance of the scientific work conducted
in Armenia. What is even more impressive for CRD is that 75% of the papers
Armenia published in international journals come from the Yerevan Physics
Institute, CRD’s parent organization.

Scientific Journal need expert editors who are able to ascertain the quality of
the scientific work expressed in the articles submitted to the journal. Each
article is independently reviewed by at least two expert reviewers after which the
editorial staff must make a decision whether to print the article or not based on
the recommendations of the reviewers and their own assessment. The editorial
staff has the final say. It is a great achievement to be invited to serve on such a
prestigious board.

The Terrestrial Elementary Particle Acceleration (TEPA-2013) attracted scientists
from around the word to CRD’s Nor Ambert research station and conference
center. Representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Japan Atomic
Commission, the Max Plan Institute in Germany,and universities from USA, Russia and
around the world went to Armenia to present their work and to hear about others’
work on the subject. CRD young scientists had the opportunity to rub shoulders
with the giants as well as forge friendships with other young scientists from around
the world with whom they will be exchanging information for decades to come.

June 2013 - CRD Student Milestones

Two CRD students completed their Masters Degree in Physics at the Yerevan State University and are now applying for the PhD program at the Cosmic Ray Division at YerPhI. One student completed his Bachelors degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at the Yerevan State University and will be working at CRD full time and one student intern from University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA spent the summer at the CRD learning about Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements - a new area of physics where CRD leads the world. Look for the press release coming soon.

February 2012 - The International Space Weather Initiative Report to the UN includes Armenia as a Leader.

“The International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI) currently has 15 instrument array
projects in deployment or under development. These are located in 101 countries and
coordinated by scientists from Armenia, France, Japan, Switzerland and the United
States.”, states the ISWI steering committee’s report to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Forty-ninth session held in Vienna, Austria on February 6 – 17, 2012. Professor Ashot Chilingarian (director of Yerevan Physics Institute and head of its Cosmic Ray Division) is one of the 17 elite international scientists from around the world that comprise the International Space Weather Initiative Committee. The ISWI committee held its annual meeting in Vienna during this time on February 14 and 15 to prepare the report for the UN session, to review progress and discuss future plans.

February 2012 - The International Scientific Committee on Solar Terrestrial Physics Invitation to Armenia.

“Armenia has been very active in the Solar Terestrial Physics research area with lots of
young researches active and making their presence known with excellent publications.
Armenian scientists have also been contributing enormously to the physics of the Sun-
Earth system by creating observing facilities and data analysis tools, and are recognized
internationally. For this reason, I invite Armenia to become an official member of the
Scientific Committee on Solar Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP)”.
Says Nat Gopalswamy, the president of SCOSTEP, an interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science (ICSU), in a letter to Dr. Samvel Harutyunyan, the chairman of the Armenian State Committee of Science.

December 2011, PROF CHILINGARIAN WAS ELECTED AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY FELLOW.

Prof. Ashot Chilingarian, the director of Yerevan Physics Institute and the head of its cosmic ray division is named and APS fellow this this year.

The APS announcement reads as follows: "Ashot Chilingarian, Yerevan Physics Insitute: For bringing one of the world's largest facilities for monitoring different species of secondary cosmic rays located in Armenia to the International Space Weather initiative as a global warning system from violent space events. Nominated by: Forum on International Physics"

Congratulations to Prof. Chilingarian!

December 2011, Prof. Chilingarian Invited to Report on the Research on Aragats at the Annual American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco. Dr. Bagrad Mailyan also to Present His Work.Because of the ground breaking research conducted on Mt. Aragats the American Geophysical Union Conference committee has invited Prof. Chilingarian, to report on CRD’s research. Accompanying Chilingarian will be Dr. Bagrad Mailyan, one of the young scientists who recently received his PhD while conducting his research at the Cosmic Ray Division. At this same conference, Dr. Mailyan will present his work on the energy spectra of the gamma rays and the electric fields which accelerate the electrons within thunderclouds.

March 2011, The 24-th Solar Activity Cycle Produced the First Violent Blast. Aragats and SEVAN Monitors Took Excellent Data.The sun unleashed its strongest solar flare in nearly five years on Feb 15 2011, sending a massive wave of charged particles toward Earth. The Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), a huge cloud of charged particles, reached the Earth in approximately 3 days and triggered a sizeable geomagnetic storm and a deep Forbush decrease (Fd). Fd is a rapid decrease in the observed galactic cosmic ray intensity following a CME arrival. Variety of the particle detectors of the Aragats Space Environmental Center (ASEC) in Armenia and the Space Environmental Viewing and Analysis Network (SEVAN), a worldwide network, registered the Fd in all details.

September 2010, the Thunderstorms and Elementary Particle Acceleration (TEPA-2010) conference was held from September 6 through 11, 2010 in the Nor Amberd international conference centre of Artem Alikhanyan National Laboratory (AANL), formerly known as Yerevan Physics Institute, in Armenia.
The conference was organized by the Cosmic Ray Division (CRD) of AANL, Armenia and Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University, Russian Federation. The conference was sponsored by AANL, the international Committee On Space Research (COSPAR) and the Armenian State Science Committee. Forty scientists and students from USA, UK, Germany, Mexico, Russia and Armenia attended the conference

September 2009, CRD Delegation at the Balkan, Black and Caspian Sea Regional conference on Heliophysical Phenomena and the Earth Environment.On September 4-18, 2009 a delegation from the Yerevan Physics Institute (YerPhI) consisting of Prof. Ashot Chilingarian, YerPhi's director and head of its Cosmic Ray Division (CRD), with CRD scientists and engineers participated in the International conference on the Heliophysical Phenomena and the Earth Environment in Shibenik, Croatia. The regional meeting of Balkan, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea participants was held for the third time within the framework of the International Heliophysical Year, now being continued as the International Space Weather Initiative (ISWI). This initiative is supported by NASA and the United Nation's Outer Space Office in Vienna, Austria.

December 2008, SEVAN Detectors Deployed in Bulgaria and Croatia

Construction of the SEVAN (Space
Environmental Viewing and Analysis Network) network has started within the
framework of the International Heliophysical Year and United Nations Basic Space Science (UNBSS) program
focusing on deployment of arrays of small inexpensive instruments around the
world. The Cosmic Ray Division of the Alikhanyan Physics Institute donates
scintillators, photomultipliers and Data Acquisition electronics to donor
countries. The first four SEVAN modules operated at Aragats Space Environmental
Center in Armenia, at altitudes 1000, 17000, 2000 and 3200 m in Yerevan and
on the slopes of mountain. Aragats. Installation of the first SEVAN detector
abroad was performed by the group of CRD experts in December 2008 in Croatia and Bulgaria. The first test demonstrated the high reliability of SEVAN detectors
operation.

These units will be deployed at
the universities and research centers of developing countries to perform
survey and monitoring of the most dangerous space storms and to involve new generations
of students and scientists in space research.

A further step towards creating
world-wide network will be the development of databases and on-line data flow
from remote detectors for mutual analysis and issuing alerts and forecasting
on upcoming space storms. The potential
recipients of particle detectors in this new initiative are Croatia,
Slovakia, Costa Rica, Bulgaria, Indonesia, and India. When fully deployed the
SEVAN network will provide reliable monitoring of the Sun by at least one
detector 24 hours and by two detectors 18 hours every day.

September 2008, International Workshop “Forecasting of
Radiation and Geomagnetic Storms by Networks of Particle Detectors” Held in
Armenia

From September 29 to October 3 the Cosmic Ray Division (CRD)
of the Alikhanyan Physics Institute hosted the International Astroparticle
Physics Symposium “Forecasting of the Radiation and Geomagnetic Storms by
Networks of Particle Detectors (FORGES-2008)” at CRD’s International
Conference Center, Nor Amberd, Armenia.The focus of the Symposium was pointed on the Space Weather drivers
and on possibilities of the networks of particle detectors measuring changing
fluxes of neutral and charged particles to forewarn on upcoming severe
radiation and geomagnetic storms. Radiation and geomagnetic storms can interfere
with electronic systems on earth and damage satellites in space. Thus
forecasting such events is extremely important.

The conference lasted a week. Approximately 40 scientists
and students from Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Croatia, Greece, Ukraine,
Russia, USA, Costa-Rica and Armenia attended the symposium. The conference
met for six hours on each of the conference days, split into morning and
afternoon sessions, with free time between the sessions for ongoing
individual exchanges or outdoor activities.

The core activities of the conference were based on
lectures by invited scientists, followed by 15 minute discussion periods.
Participants listened to 8 invited lectures and 25 original Papers.

September 9-12 2008, Participation of the CRD delegation in the
European Cosmic Ray Symposium

The 21st ECRS -
European Cosmic Ray Symposium was held at the Technical University of Košice,
Slovakia, September 9-12, 2008.

Approximately 150 scientists
from 20 European countries presented 76 and 120 poster presentations. The
Armenian delegation (A.Chilingarian and G.Hovsepyan), as usual, participated
in the European projects meetings, and at INTAS 8777 project meeting they
reported on new electronics commissioning for the large Aragats Multichannel
Muon Monitor (AMMM) and calculations of the most probable primary proton
energies for the Aragats particle detectors.

Meetings were also held with the Bulgarian and Croatian
delegations concerning the installation of SEVAN particle detectors. Both
groups already prepare PM and scintillator housings. It was settled that the
Armenian experts would finalize the detector assembly in late autumn or
winter 2008.

The CRD- GIAN-
DAAD Symposium “Advanced Information Technologies in Collaborations:
Preconditions for Constructing Effective Networks of Researchers and
Facilities” was held at the Nor- Amberd International Conference Center
August 29- 30, 2008.

The 2-day seminar hosted 25 participants from Iran,
Germany and Armenia. 15 papers were presented during the following 2
sessions:

·Research and Networking: International
Collaborations and the Challenges of Millenium Development Goals.

·Special Session Dedicated to Solar Radiation and
Hazard Prevention of the Occasion of International Heliophysical Year.

The conference participants were also familiarized with
the particle detectors at the Aragats research station. Karen Arakelyan and
Gagik Hovsepyan from CRD staff introduced them to ASEC monitors registering
charged and neutral fluxes of cosmic rays.

July 2008, Armenia at the
37th COSPAR Congress in Canada

July
13-23 Montréal hosted the 37th International Scientific Assembly which is
considered as one of the greatest events since COSPAR foundation in 1958. The
COSPAR Scientific Assembly provides the world’s largest interdisciplinary
forum for the exchange of recent results in realm of space research and,
therefore, is a particularly important meeting for members of participating
in the scientific business activities organized in the context of this
congress.

The
Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and National Research Council of Canada
co-sponsored the weeklong gathering of more than 2,500 scientists and
students from 50 countries who presented 1,500 reports in more than 87
sessions covering all topics of Space Research: such as “planetary
protection” and “ jet dynamics in Supernovae explosions”.

Head of the Cosmic Ray Division (CRD), Professor Ashot
Chilingarian, participated in COSPAR Congress as Armenia’s official
representative to this organization and a member of the Committee’s Council.
He plays a crucial role in the Committee’s council, particularly in the area
of promoting space research for developing countries. During the COSPAR
assembly in Canada, he chaired a session and presented three papers resulting
from cosmic ray research in Armenia.

On June 24, 2008, Armenia celebrated
the 100 year anniversary of one of its most renowned scientists, Artem
Alikhanyan.

The Yerevan Physics Institute
organized a number of events devoted to this anniversary. On June 24
Alikhanyan’s former friends and colleagues paid tribute to their great
teacher laying flowers to his grave and monument. After, in the National
Academy of Sciences, a memorial session was held devoted to his centenary
anniversary. The same day the opening ceremony of memorial plaque was held at
18 Bagramyan street; former headquarters of YerPhI.

The last event organized in
honor of Alikhanyan was a scientific session devoted to the Alikhanyan’s
scientific activity held in Nor- Amberd Cosmic ray station.A film devoted to the memory of Alikhanyan
was shown at the very beginning of the seminar. During the three hour long
seminar guests and former colleagues of Alikhanyan presented reports and
related memorable events from Alikhanyan’s life. A banquet was prepared for
the participants of the seminar at the dining hall of the conference center.

September 2008, CRD to Monitor Solar
Radio Signals

On September 1
Professor Hartmut Gemmeke from the German Research Center at Karlsruhe gave a
seminar at CRD where he proposed installing at CRD new type of antennas to
detect radio-bursts from solar flares and CMEs. Seminar followed by
assembling the antenna that Hartmut had brought from Germany. Karen
Arakelyan, David Pokhsraryan and Gagik Hovsepyan from CRD staff not only
installed the hardware, but also registered first spectra of radio frequency
intensities in Yerevan region. These first results will be followed by
spectra measurements at Nor Amberd and Aragats research stations. After
collecting initial data the decision will be made on location and
configuration of new antenna network for solar physics and space weather
research. The fruitful collaborations between CRD and German physicists
continue.

June 2008, the Armenian
Delegation at the Workshop on the International Heliophysical Year
2007 and Basic Space Science

As
a part of the outreach activities for the International Heliophysical Year
(IHY) which started in 2007, the United Nations Office for Outer Space
Affairs (UNOOSA) organized a five-day Workshop on the International
Heliophysical Year 2007 and Basic Space Science in Sozopol, Bulgaria, from
2–6 June 2008.

Approximately 150 participants from 51 countries
attended the Workshop. The
Armenian delegation to the conference included 5 Cosmic Ray Division (CRD)
employees supported by CRD projects and 2 students of Yerevan State
University, supported by UN and NASA.

The
workshop highlighted front-line research results with a deep impact on the
development ofspace
sciences and geo sciences and reviewed the achievements of the past three
workshops in theestablishment
of low-cost, ground-based, worldwide instrument arrays and coordinated
investigation programs as implemented through IHY 2007.

The Armenian delegation delivered 4 oral and 8
poster presentations. All presentations were based on the Aragats Space
Environmental Center (ASEC) data and on the first results from CRD’s SEVAN
particle detector network.

CRD participated in the bi-annual International Symposium
“Solar Extreme Events 2007” held in Athens, Greece.

The aim of this
International Symposium, similar to that of SEE 2005 held in Nor-Amberd,
Armenia, was to provide a world forum for the discussion of recent
interesting events in the coupled solar-terrestrial system, which attracted
the attention of scientists, engineers and the public.

September 2007,Lebedev-CRD International Cosmic Ray
Workshop “ARAGATS-2007"
Held in Nor-Amberd,
Armenia

The International Cosmic Ray Workshop
"ARAGATS-2007" organized by the Moscow Lebedev Physical Institute
and the Yerevan Physics Institute was held September 9-13, 2007 in
Nor-Amberd, Armenia. The Workshop focused on the cosmic ray and gamma ray
data collection, analysis and interpretation relevant to the study of the
knee energy region of the primary cosmic ray energy spectrum on data
collected with the GAMMA and MAKET-ANI arrays on Mt. Aragats and other
facilities located on mountain elevations as well as closer to sea level.

The numerous close discussions among the several research
groups working in this area served an important ground on the way to
resolving differences between them and aimed at better understanding of the
knee origin. This Workshop was a logical successor to a very successful
Workshop held in Kazakhstan at the Tien-Shan station in August, 2006.

March 31 - April 3, 2007,
CRD Hosted Workshop on Particle Networks for Space Weather Research

The workshop included:Meeting CRD electronics group members;
demonstration of new electronics to be used in the project; discussions;
Visit to Yerevan Physics Institute, CRD headquarters, electronics lab, Space
education Center. Meeting with CRD students and their short presentations, as
well as discussion on the possible participation in FP7 program and on the
on-line integration of data from surface and space born facilities.

Prof. Ashot Chilingarian is the official representative of
Armenia in COSPAR. July 23-29 he participated in the congress organized by
the Council of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) touching upon the
most “hot” scientific highlights. On July 15-23 Prof. Chilingarian
participated in COSPAR committee meetings. In the course of numerous discussions, director of Russian Space
Research Institute Lev Zelenij offered Prof. Chilingarian to organize mutual grand of Russian
federation and Armenia for joint research in Space Physics.

On June 26 - 30, 2006, the delegation of Yerevan
Physics Institute: A.Chilingarian, V.Ivanov, V.Babayan, K.Arakelyan,
A.Raymers, represented Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Division at theconference organized by the Physical
Department and Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University named
“Space Education and University Satellites” (UNIVERSAT- 2006).

In the course of the conference, CRD’s project on new type
of particle detectors was declared to be one of the 11 project recommended by
UN for implementation in the framework of the International Heliophysical
Year 2007 (IHY2007). A seminar was held at Lebedev Institute of Russian
Academy of Sciences the aim of which was to give new live to multiyear
cooperation of Armenian and Russian physicists on Mt. Aragats. Dr.
Lebedev suggested creating International Armenian-Russian center for the
Cosmic Ray research (ARCR). The legal possibilities of such center would be
investigated in 2006.

March 30-April 1, 2006,
Prof.Ashot Chilingarian Participated
in the IHY Annual Meeting of the Balkans, Black Sea and Caspian Sea Regional
Network on Space Weather. The meeting was hosted by Bogazichi University
and TUBITAK National Observatory, Antalya, Turkey.

The topic of the report presented by Prof. Chlingarian
at the meeting “A Middle-to-Low Latitude Particle Detector Network for Space
Weather Research” was directly connected with ISTC A1058 project and was
recommended by the UN Outer Space Committee for realization in the framework
of its small instrument deployment program of IHY-2007.

At a special session organized for the regional group
aimed at preparing a joint project according to the INTAS recent
collaborative call for South-Caucasian republics. Georgia,
Armenia, Bulgaria and Romania agreed to prepare a
project on the climate change related to the changing intensity of the
incident cosmic ray flux. The main goal of the project would be precise
measurements of all the components of secondary cosmic rays using ASEC
detectors.

March 2006,Armenia to Become the Full Member of the
European COST 724 Action

Prof. Ashot Chilingarian representedCRD at the “Developing the scientific basis
for monitoring and predicting Space Weather” meeting organized by the COST
724 managerial committee in Antalyа (Turkey) from March 27 to March 30.
Armenia has been an associate member of the COST action since 2004. It was
the first time that a country representative was invited to participate in
the managerial committee meeting.

At the meeting the chair of the managerial committee,
Jean Lilensten, suggested that Armenia should become the full member of the
action in order to actively participate in the creation of the European Space
Weather site and to attend managerial committee meetings. It was settled that
the financial obligations of Armenia would be clarified by Jean Lilensten in
COST Brussels office in April.

December 2006, University of Utah Commercialization Office
has announced the patent authored by Prof. Ashot Chilingarian of the Cosmic
Ray DivisionSELECTION OF
DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES FROM MICROARRAY DATA UTILIZING THE
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GENESis an advanced mathematical method
of identifying genes carrying a particular disease signature in the presence
of tens of thousands of other genes in the human body. This work was done in
collaboration with the Huntsman Cancer Research Center (HCRC) of the
University of Utah . Prof. Chilingarian developed the mathematical
methods while two doctors from the HCRC provided the arrays of simulated and
real-patient genes to test his methods. U of Utah owns the licensing rights,
while Prof. Chilingarian holds 75% of the authorship rights, and the two
doctors share the remaining 25%. The paper which was published in Mathematical
Biosciences after the provisional patent application was filed was the 7-th
most downloaded paper from the journals website in 2002 and has been
reference more than 20 times by others all over the world.

September 2006, CRD's DVIN appeared as
the model project for UN's World Summit on Information Society. The
UN World Summit on Information Society website is displaying CRD’s Data
Visualization Interactive Network (DVIN) project as its high standard for
others to follow. In the first WSIS competition in 2003, DVIN took
first in the e-science category, our of 800 projects from 136 countries.
As a result, the president of Armenia was asked to make the
presentation of the awards to Prof. Chilingarian for Armenia , and the other
three finalists from Canada , China , and US. The Award ceremony was in
Geneva during the WSIS in the presence of 10,000 participants and many heads
of state.

In January, 2006, CRD's Space Environment Viewing and Analysis Network
(SEVAN), was endorsed by the UN/NASA/ESA (European Space
Agency) consortium in preparation for the International Heliophysical Year
2007 (IHY-07). SEVAN is a 9 nation network which will host detectors designed
by by CRD. The network data acquisition and analysis methods will be managed
by the CRD under the leadership of the Head of the CRD and Principal
Investigator of SEVAN, Prof. Ashot Chilingarian. The importance of SEVAN was
reinforced at the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) meeting in China in
July 2006. Nat Gopalswamy of NASA and the international coordinator IHY-07
mentioned SEVAN in his own presentation as one of the most important projects
of IHY-07. Meanwhile, the chairman of the IHY-07 steering committee, Joseph
Davila stated, “Space Weather issues are becoming more and more important
and the approach advocated by CRD to deploy new type of particle detectors in
near-equator countries is very important”.

On September 26-30, 2005, CRD hosted
the Solar Extreme Events - 2005 international symposium in Armenia.
Over 75 scientists from 11 countries participated in the conference sponsored
by the international Commission On Space Research (COSPAR) and the
International Science and Technology Center (ISTC). The local organizing
committee and the international advisory committee were chaired by Prof.
Ashot Chilingarian, head of the CRD. The program included presentations by
the participants, discussions about the sources of Space Weather and the
detection and early warning of events with catastrophic consequences, and a
tour of the extensive cosmic ray research facilities on Mt. Aragats. Several
key international organizations list this conference on their calendar as an
important conferece to attend, among them: NASA, the European Sapce Agency
(ESA), the international Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), and others.
Participants of the conference elected to make it a bi-annual event,
recommending to meet next time again in Armenai because, in the words of one
participant from Switzerland, "There is no better place than
Armenia". For more details see http://crdlx5.yerphi.am

In June 2005, Prof. Chilingarian
represented Armenia in two key regional forums, propelling Armenia’s
visibility for its contribution to the Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) and Space Weather Forecasting in the world. At the World
Summit Contributory Conference on ICT & Creativity in Vienna, Prof.
Chilingarian pressed the importance of the ICT on forecasting and alerting on
natural disasters and the need for a focused effort in this direction, in
particular sighting his efforts in the field of Space Weather forecasting and
alerts. This question will be discussed in more detail at the Solar Extreme
Events -05 workshop at CRD’s Nor Amberd research station in September.
Participants from the US (Naval Research Laboratory, Stanford U., U. of
Delaware), Europe, Japan, and Russia will discuss and draw a conclusion which
could be presented to the World Summit on Information Society – 05 in Tunis
as the Armenian Declaration. The Vienna Declaration focused on e-learning and
multimedia.

In Bulgaria, At the Balkan and Black Sea
regional planning meeting for the International Heliophysical Year in 2007,
Prof. Chilingarian represented Armenia as a leading actor in the region for
Space Weather forecasting. With its two high altitude research stations, Nor
Amberd at 6,500 ft. and Aragats at 10,500 ft., CRD is a world Leader for
ground based space weather research. Space weather is the effect of the Solar
activity on terrestrial systems, and thus is a very hot topic of
consideration for the year dedicated to Heliophysical research. The workshop
in Bulgaria included representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and others countries of the
region. Armenia is clearly the leader on ground based space weather
monitoring in the region. Relying on the expertise of the CRD, setting up a
regional network of solar monitoring stations in other countries for 24 hours
of alert service, was highlighted in the workshop. The new monitors under
development at the CRD can be installed in new locations in Croatia and
Bulgaria, and initial discussion along these lines show great promise.

In May of 2005 The Cosmic Ray Division
(CRD) of the Alikhanian Physics Institute won the All Armenia e-Content
Contest in the e-science category. The competition, dedicated to the
1600th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian Alphabet, was
appropriately named the Mashtots-1600 contest. Winners of this contest will
represent Armenia at the World Summit on Information Society’s (WSIS)
competition in Tunis in November, 2005. Because the CRD won the 2003 world
competition held in Geneva, the second place winner of the All Armenia contest
in the e-science category in 2005 will represent Armenia in Tunis this year.
As the winner from the previous WSIS contest, CRD’s head, Prof. Ashot
Chilingarian, will likely serve as a judge at the Tunis competition. We wish
success to all the Armenian entries to the world contest in Tunis this year.

In May 2005, the Science Education for
New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) conference, organized by
the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States, was held at CRD’s
Nor Amberd research station on Mt. Aragats. SENCER, a flagship
program of the NSF, aims to advance important national educational goals by
helping students understand the scientific process and the importance of
civic responsibility. Prof. Chilingarian, one of four key speakers, spoke
about “Space Weather and Solar Physics – Basic Science Influencing Everyday
Life”. Prof. Karen Kashmanian Oates, Vice President of Academic and Student
Affairs of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, was the
conference chair. About 30 participants from the Georgian State University,
Georgian Medical University, Alikhanyan Physics Institute, Yerevan State
University, Yerevan Technical University, as well as the chairman of
Armenia’s National Foundation for Science and Advanced Technologies (NFSAT),
Dr. Harut Karapetyan, were attendees. The next meeting will be in San Jose,
California, in August. Four Armenian scientists will join an international
group of colleagues involved in science education reform in order to continue
the work started at Nor Amberd. Armenia’s participation is funded through a
SENCER-Armenia grant sponsored by the International Center for Science and
Technology at the National Science Foundation.

In February of 2005 NASA Includes
Armenia’s Cosmic Ray Stations on its Observatory List In preparation
for the International Heliophysical Year (IHY – 2007), NASA has founded a
collaboration of international spacecraft and observatories that conduct
solar research. The first step of this collaboration is to display the
participating observatories and their internet links on the NASA internet
site. The Aragats Space Environmental Center of the Cosmic Ray Division of
the Alikhanian Physics Institute in Armenia is number two on the NASA site.
To see it please visit http://orpheus.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/ihy/ , click
on “VIEW Participating Observatories List” and scroll down to the second
entry on the “ Spacecraft and Observatory” list.

CRD
scientists close the summer of 2004 with an impressive presence at
international conferences

CRD's head,
Prof. Ashot Chilingarian and scientists Valeri Babayan, Hamlet Martirosyan,
Vitali Ivanov, and Garegin Hosepian attended one or more of the following
international conferences to present their state of the art research on
galactic cosmic rays and space weather: International Symposium on
Solar Extreme Events of Oct. - Nov. 2003, in Moscow, Commission
On SPAce Research (COSPAR), in Paris, European Cosmic

Ray
Symposium (ECRS), in Florence.

Here is an excerpt from a letter to Prof. Chilingarian from the
executive director of COSPAR, "I would also like to take the
opportunity of this letter to thank you, as Armenia's National
Representative, for participating so actively in the Committee's activities.
It is rare for new members to participate to the degree that you have,
attending council meetings, ..., seeking COSPAR's assistance in obtaining
European Union funding etc. Armenia's participation has added to the value of
our Committee's work and has been remarked by our officers and certainly
other national and international scientific union members.

We look forward to future close relations, to widening participation by
Armenian scientists in the international space research community, and trust
you will not hesitate to contact us concerning capacity building activities
or other matters in which our collaboration may be of assistance" Dr. I.
Revah, September 15, 2004

CRD
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European

Sapce
Agency (ESA), in March 2004

CRD and ESA
have signed a memorandum of understanding for scientific cooperation in space
weather forcasting research. CRD's strong participation in European
scientific collaborations will be an important feather in Armenia's hat, when
Armenia is considered for joining the EU.

CRD is accepted into the European COST
Action 724 in January, 2004, to establish a world-Wide Space Weather Alert
Network (SWAN)
CRD's Aragats Space Environmental Center (ASEC) is a vital part of the Space
Weather Alert Network because it fills a vital gap by virtue of its
Geographic location, Ground based detectors that complement sattelite based
detectors, its Scientific Expertise, and its Award winning Data Visualization
Interactive Network (DVIN)

CRD's
DVIN wins World Summit on Information Society 2003 award
CRD was among the top four finalists in the e-science category of the WSIS
2003 award competition for best content. Projectes from the U.S., Canada, and
China were the other 3. The winners were selected from a pool of over 800
projects from 136 countries. Armenia's president, H.E. Robert Kocharian, did
the honor of presenting the awards to all the e-science finalists during the
World Summit in Geneva on December 10. Armenia's DVIN for ASEC (Data
Vidualization Interactive Network for the Aragats Space Environmental Center)
was prepared by a team of young scientists at the Cosmic Ray Division under
the leadership of Prof. Ashot Chilingarian.

One very valuable electronic engineer
returned to Armenia in 2003, with rich experience from German and
Swiss physics laboratories to work at the Cosmic Ray Division, thanks to the
Diaspora Support. He is implementing a state-of-the-art microprocessor chip
data acquisition system for new CRD detectors. He is also training 4 young
scientists in this important skill.

In 2003, CRD has designed 2 new,
innovative types of sub-atomic particle detectors which can measure
key details of cosmic ray particle composition and direction of arrival. The CRD
has submitted a proposal to the International Science and Technology Center
(an office of the US Department of State) for funding to build the detector
prototypes.

The U. S. National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Agency's Space Operations Division partners with the CRD on the
propoposal to build the protype detecotors - April, 2003

In 2003, CRD has developed new analysis
methods which improve Cosmic Ray data interpretation. These methods,
developed by a young CRD physicist, Ararat Vartanian, are an extension of the
methods first developed by Prof. Chilingarian in the 1980’s and used world
wide up to now. The application of the new methods by the CRD to the cosmic
ray particles gathered at Mt. Aragats reveal discoveries that are a prelude
to the discoveries expected from a large, multibillion-dollar physics machine
being constructed at CERN in Europe, expected to produce data in 6 years.

Prof. Chilingarian was invited to a
NATO sponsored Space Weather Workshop in Greece - March 2003, At the
NATO-sponsored Space Weather Workshop in Greece, Prof. Chilingarian presented
the research conducted by the CRD. The interest sparked by CRD’s research
resulted in a suggestion that the next workshop be held in Armenia in October
2004.

Prof. Chilingarian taught at the prestigious
CERN School On High Energy Physics - September 2003, This annual
two-week schoolis geared for young graduate and post graduate level
scientists. It includes students from around the world including two from the
CRD, was held in Armenia this year.

CRD is part of
several world wide collaborations, such as MAGIC and KASCADE, and several
institutions in Russia and Europe. As Armenia’s representative to the
international COmmission for SPAce Research (COSPAR) International
organization, Prof. Chilingarian, will participate in the COSPAR congress in
Huston, Texas in October 2002 to plan future international space science
research.

German Embassy First Secretary, Speyer
and Dr. Knaul of the European Commission toured CRD’s research
stations. After a briefing by Prof. Chilingarian on the need for more
consistent funding for CRD’s projects and the importance of CRD’s research,
the visitors promised to assist in the funding process. As a result, at the
end of 2002, the first International Technology and Science grant, for
essential repairs to the CRD Aragats Research Stations, was approved.

U.S.
Ambassador Ordway visits the CRD Research Stations – September 4, 2002

Ambassador
Ordway and four his aides visited the CRD Aragats station near at 3200 m.
Prof. Chilingarian demonstrated the CRD capabilities and introduced the CRD
projects to the delegation. Ambassador Ordway expressed interest in
revisiting the stations before the October snow-fall in order to discuss
further how the United States might benefit from the research conducted at
the CRD.

CRD
Invited to Make the Opening Invited Presentations at ECSR – July 8-12, 2002

Eight CRD
scientists represented Armenia's Cosmic Ray Division at the 18-th European
Cosmic Ray Symposium in Moscow on July 8-12, 2002. In addition to the regular
presentations by the Armenian delegation, Prof. Chilingarian delivered the
opening invited presentation on the break-through research in Armenia regarding
Space Weather Forecasting.

CRD
Receives Grant of Equipment – June 2002

The European
particle Accelerator center, CERN, contributed data acquisition equipment to
the CRD. This equipment is already installed and operating at the high
altitude stations.

CRD
Director to Publish a Textbook – June 28, 2002

The
International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) has awarded Prof.
Chilingarian a contract to publish a textbook titled "Multivariate
Methods of Data Analysis for High Energy Astrophysics".

Young CRD Scientist Receives
Hewlett-Packard Grant – June 24-28, 2002
Dr. Ararat Vardanyan, one of the bright young scientist at the CRD, received
a grant from Hewlett Packard to attend the 8th international workshop on Advanced
Computing and Analysis Techniques in physics research in Moscow. He presented
a paper on new methods of artificial neural networks training.

American Armenians Visit CRD Facilities
on Mt. Aragats – June 22, 2002
A group of scientists and engineers and community leaders from the United
States representing the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Stanford
University, UC Berkeley, Armenian Technology Group (ATG) and the Greater
Boston Area Armenian community visited the CRD's Nor Ambert and Aragats high
altitude research stations on Mt. Aragats. They were extremely impressed by
the installations and the research conducted by the CRD.

ISTC Project Directors Visit CRD
Facilities – June 12-14, 2002
The ISTC Deputy Executive Director Mr. M. Okubo, Administrative Assistant
Mrs. L. Kormilkina and CRD’s ISTC-funded A216 solar research project
collaborator Professor Y. Muraki visited the CRD stations for on-site
monitoring of the project. Discussions included approaches for a new Solar
Neutron Monitor (SNT2) design and new data analysis methods under development
at the CRD. A positive and fruitful discussion ensued on continuing this
project and installing new equipment to be fabricated in machine shops in
Armenia.

CRD Director Invited to Make Special
Presentation in Japan – June 3-4, 2002
Because the Cosmic Ray Division is one of the world’s leading research
institutes in the field of space weather forecasting. Prof. Chilingarian was
invited to make special presentation on “Principals of Forecasting Severe
Space Weather Conditions” at the ISTC seminar in Nagoya, Japan.

CRD Survives Treacherous Winter Storm -
December 2001
A severe winter blizzard on Mt. Aragats downed power lines to the Aragats
research station. The crew manning this station was stranded with minimal
emergency heat and electricity. The repair and rescue mission conducted
during blizzard conditions was successful. The heavy duty caterpillar-tractor
used for the mission was previously repaired with funds contributed by the
Diaspora.

Armenia
is one of the World’s Top 5 Countries in Cosmic Ray Research – August 2001

Thanks to the
consistently high quality research conducted by the CRD, Armenia was
considered to be one of the top 5 countries engaged in Cosmic Ray Research,
along with the United States, Germany, Japan and Russia at the International
Cosmic Ray Conference in Hamburg,